A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §9-2-11a, relating to
preventing taxpayer subsidization of health insurance covering
elective abortions; prohibiting all qualified health plans
offered through a state exchange from including abortion
coverage except to prevent the death of the mother; and
preventing all other health plans, including health insurance
contracts, plans or policies, offered outside of the exchange,
but within the state, from providing coverage for elective
abortions except by optional separate supplemental coverage
for abortion.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §9-2-11a, to read as
follows:

(a) Pursuant to the federal Patient Protection and Affordable
Care Act, Pub. L. No. 111-148, all qualified health plans offered
through an exchange established in the state are prohibited from
including elective abortion coverage. Nothing in this section
prevents anyone from purchasing optional supplemental coverage for
elective abortions for which there is paid a separate premium in
accordance with subsection (d) of this section in the health
insurance market outside of the exchange.

(b) No health plan, including health insurance contracts,
plans or policies, offered outside an exchange but within the
state, may provide coverage for elective abortions except by
optional separate supplemental coverage for abortion for which
there is paid a separate premium in accordance with subsection (d)
of this section.

(c) For purposes of this section, an "elective abortion"
means an abortion for any reason other than to prevent the death of
the mother: Provided, That an abortion is not one to prevent the
death of the mother based on a claim or diagnosis that she will
engage in conduct that will result in her death.

(1) Shall calculate the premium for coverage so that it fully
covers the estimated cost of covering elective abortions, per
enrollee, determined on an average actuarial basis, and the issuer
of the plan may not take into account any cost reduction in a
health plan covering an enrollee estimated to result from the
provision of abortion coverage, including prenatal care, delivery,
or postnatal care;

(2) If the enrollee is enrolling in a health plan providing
other coverage at the same time as the enrollee is enrolling in a
plan providing elective abortion coverage, shall require a separate
signature, distinct from that to enroll in the health plan
providing other coverage, in order to enroll in the separate
supplemental plan providing elective abortion coverage.

(3) Shall provide a notice to enrollees, at the time of
enrollment, that:

(A) Specifically states the cost of the separate premium for
coverage of elective abortions, distinct and apart from the cost of
the premium for a health plan providing other coverage and this
cost shall be agreed with a separate signature;

(B) States that enrollment in elective abortion coverage is
optional; and

(C) If the enrollee is enrolling in a health plan providing
other coverage at the same time the enrollee is enrolling in a plan
providing elective abortion coverage, states that the enrollee may
choose to enroll in the plan providing other coverage without
enrolling in the plan providing elective abortion coverage.

(e) The issuer of a health plan providing coverage other than
elective abortion shall not discount or reduce the premium for such
coverage on the basis that an enrollee has elective abortion
coverage.

(f) Any employer who offers employees a health plan providing
elective abortion coverage shall, at the time of beginning
employment and at least once in each calendar year thereafter,
provide each employee the option to choose or reject the separate
supplemental elective abortion coverage, verified yearly with a
separate signature.

(g) Any entity offering a group health plan providing separate
supplemental elective abortion coverage, other than employers
offering such a plan to their employees, shall, at the time each
group member begins coverage and at least once in each calendar
year thereafter, provide each group member the option to choose or
reject the separate supplemental elective abortion coverage.

(h) Nothing in this section applies in circumstances in which
federal law preempts state health insurance regulation.

(i) No funds from the Medicaid program account may be expended
for an abortion or for any related expenses except to the extent
required by federal law or necessary for continued participation in
a federal program.

(j) Severability. If any one or more provision, section,
subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or word of this section or the
application thereof to any person or circumstance is found to be
unconstitutional, the same is hereby declared to be severable and
the balance of this section remains effective notwithstanding such
unconstitutionality. The Legislature hereby declares that it would
have passed this section, and each provision, section, subsection,
sentence, clause, phrase or word thereof, irrespective of the fact
that any one or more provision, section, subsection, sentence,
clause, phrase, or word be declared unconstitutional.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to limit health insurance
coverage for elective abortions to coverage provided through
supplemental policies.